Protein Self-Assembly: From Programming Arrays to Bioinspired Materials

Natural protein assemblies are intriguing soft materials that exhibit highly complex hierarchical structures and collective properties for many important biological functions, which make them difficult to mimic synthetically. This chapter summarizes the recent advances in the research field of protein assembly and highlights several innovative design strategies for precise manipulation of proteins into extended-, periodic arrays with desired morphologies. These artificially created protein nano/microstructures allow for further functionalization and serve as a versatile platform to create a wide variety of biomaterials by coupling their well-defined architectures with different functional groups, molecules, or nanoparticles for diverse applications. Mimicking the structures and properties of natural protein materials through hierarchical protein self-assembly may help to unravel the complexity and diversity of the protein aggregation process and develop a new generation of biomimetic materials. This will provide a valuable source of inspiration for future design of novel biomaterials and accelerate its development towards high precision, efficiency, and multifunctionality.